There's a call out for public participation as the new "Society for Fair and Transparent Health Funding to Central Alberta" holds its first official meeting tonight (March 6th).

That new non-profit society was created by a group of Red Deer physicians who have spent the last year working to lobby the province on the need for a fully funded re-expansion of the Red Deer Regional Hospital.

General Surgeon Dr. Paul Hardy is among those founding members, he says they are thankful for the public support they've received so far and are hopeful that support continues as they work to build society membership from across central Alberta.

“I think we have been quite pleased with the response and it’s been very positive outside the hospital.  I think when people are going through a medical crisis the inclination is not to speak out it’s just to try and get their problem dealt with, but certainly from the community we are definitely seeing overwhelming understanding and support and we really appreciate that”.

One of their first goals is to simply recruit more members, Hardy explains what to expect of tonight’s meeting.

“public is welcome to come, it’s not going to be a rally format but it’s going to be for those who might be interested so we’ll expand our Board considerably and then we would like to get members who can go out and help educate the public and the government and deal with tasks that we determine over time”.

Tonight's meeting starts at 7 pm at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Red Deer.


https://lacombeonline.com/local/local-docs-create-non-profit-society-to-help-push-rdrh-expansion

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